Preparing for pandemic: know how to bury your dead

Reuters ^ | Wed Feb 15, 2006 | Andrew Stern

[little jeremiah]

"Communicating the truth will be important to deter civil unrest, several experts told the conference. Up until six months ago, the Department of Health and Human Services was planning privately for a pandemic but saying little publicly, said communications consultant Peter Sandman.

The shift may be due to President George W. Bush reading John Barry's "The Great Influenza," an account of the 1918 influenza pandemic during which government assured the public that it was just another seasonal flu outbreak, Sandman said. At the time, Barry said many communities were brought to a near standstill, with people afraid to talk to each other or care for the sick."

That book that Bush read this summer looks interesting.

[little jeremiah]

I think I got my mini-list.

[satchmodog9]

I can see not planting a carcass near your well, but why not near your septic?

[AntiGuv]

Good thing winter's half over so if it's something to worry about in the U.S. it's at least six months away.

[AntiGuv]

Good thing winter's half over so if it's something to worry about in the U.S. it's at least six months away.

[Mike Darancette]

Make sure to see your doctor.

[ClaudiusI]

Ummm... It might get sicker? :)

[little jeremiah]

No clue why not near the septic. I think a home cremation would be more sanitary.

[Dog Gone]

My position on this hasn't changed much in the past five months.

The flu is spreading rapidly among birds but not among people. That increases the chances for a successful mutation to enable human to human transmission, so the threat is becoming more probable.

But it still doesn't make it certain, and it doesn't tell us anything about how deadly the human to human transmission will be.

It's a huge unknown, and the range of possibilities extends from small threat to global disaster, and we won't be able to make that determination until it's clearly one or the other.

[little jeremiah]

Amazing. I saw a bunch of crows today, one was sitting on a roof silhouetted against the sky, and he looked just like that picture.

[little jeremiah]

Did you read the couple of articles lately on FR about how less than a year ago 8 mutations were needed to go H2H, and now only 2 are needed?

I am not paying as much attention to this as I was a while ago, since winter's nearing its end. But I want to remain alert and stay informed. The world is a dangerous place and bad things do happen. Being a pollyanna is not my style, nor is digging a giant hole, climbing in and pulling it in after me.

[statered]

I read Barry's book over Christmas. Interesting point he made was that with even a mild pandemic we would run out of hospital beds, ventilators, and coffins pretty quick.

I had two great grandparents die in the 1918 pandemic - one lived in Philadelphia which was hit really hard. With all the craziness over cartoons and threats of terrorism I think nature might come along and thin the herd. Death rates in underdeveloped countries like the ME would be high I'm sure.

[Dog Gone]

Yes, I'm aware of how close the mutation is, but I'm no molecular biologist. I do know that if it misses us barely, it's no different than if it misses us entirely.

Most of the literature is pessimistic, especially since the spread of that virus is becoming widespread in asia, europe and Africa. Presumably it will make it to the Americas, but it has a vast pool already to generate the mutation that we should all fear.

If it gets to the point where I need pointers on where to bury relatives in my yard, I'm hoping I'm that dead relative.

[AntiGuv]

I hadn't seen that but I'm not surprised. Sounds as if next winter is it then. The pandemic will probably start mid-summer (here) in Southeast Asia.

[dread78645]

I can see not planting a carcass near your well, but why not near your septic?

Maybe they mean burying it in the drainage field? The effluent eventually gets to the water table ...

[Semi Civil Servant]

I think my Home Owner's Association bylaws are silent on backyard burial.

[NaughtiusMaximus]

Stetson! You who were with me in the ships at Mylae,
That corpse you planted in the garden,
Has it begun to sprout?

Oh keep the dog far hence,
who's friend to man
Or with his nails
He'll dig it up again.

T.S. Eliot, "The Wasteland"

[ccmay]

with even a mild pandemic we would run out of hospital beds, ventilators, and coffins pretty quick.?

Hell's bells, my local hospital already has patients on gurneys in every broom closet, day in and day out. There's no slack at all for something like this, especially once the doctors and nurses start getting sick or running for the hills.

-ccm

[RichardW]

I sorta like this new freeze dried technique. They freeze dry the body, then shake it into fine particles, drop the remains into a hole in the ground and plant a tree on top to fertilize it. The last thing I want is a conventional funeral. It is a rip-off and a disgusting custom to come around to view a dead corpse. I told my wife I would haunt her if she gave me one. I'd rather be put on the compost pile before that.

[little jeremiah]

I think, and blam and others have stated (you probably) that the key is isolation.

Example - I usually get the flu every year, and when I get it, I often feel junk for 6 weeks or even longer. This year I have gotten nothing. Reason? Isolation. I rarely go anywhere except to a store, and before and after such visits enact various hygienic measures. Friends with kids who we used to visit with (and always got sick from) moved. Can't get it if one isn't around people who have it. Not counting bird poop from the sky, of course.